Within Ian Frazier's essay, "In Praise of Margins," he defines "marginal" as a negative tinge. He introduces the essay with his past childhood experience where he roamed "the woods" and now that he is an adult, he feels goals should have a purpose. The woods were his marginal space where he played with his friends aimlessly. Thus, his perspective has changed; seeing his children get distracted from their original plans to fish, a sense of unstructured play is quite valuable. He also states that without it, people would not be able to have the incentive for creative innovations or developing new ideas. Although Frazier presents marginal space negatively, it is where people are allowed to have a purposeless outlet in order to grow as an individual.
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The activities children do are similar to what Frazier and his friends did – they explored and went on adventures. For some children, they become invested and develop an interest in a particular subject/field. In this case, Annie Dillard’s “Hitting Pay Dirt,” presents a little girl who desperately wanted a microscope. After her parents got her a kit on Christmas, she played in her basement all winter and late spring until she discovered an amoeba and wanted to show her parents. As symbolic the amoeba was to Dillard, it was not as significant to her parents. She ends her short essay claiming her passion, “I had hit pay dirt…Anything was possible. The sky was the limit” (Dillard 96).To Dillard, the amoeba signifies the growth on her knowledge; how she views things as a child and she understood her parents were uninterested in her test tubes, they represent the choices she would make in the future. Frazier’s marginal activity differs from Dillard’s because hers had an educational value towards playing with her microscope kit. His marginal activity was in the woods doing sorts of shenanigans. It shows when someone has some type of unstructured play, goals are eventually achieved. Essentially, free time allows the mind to wander and its value could benefit one in the long
The activities children do are similar to what Frazier and his friends did – they explored and went on adventures. For some children, they become invested and develop an interest in a particular subject/field. In this case, Annie Dillard’s “Hitting Pay Dirt,” presents a little girl who desperately wanted a microscope. After her parents got her a kit on Christmas, she played in her basement all winter and late spring until she discovered an amoeba and wanted to show her parents. As symbolic the amoeba was to Dillard, it was not as significant to her parents. She ends her short essay claiming her passion, “I had hit pay dirt…Anything was possible. The sky was the limit” (Dillard 96).To Dillard, the amoeba signifies the growth on her knowledge; how she views things as a child and she understood her parents were uninterested in her test tubes, they represent the choices she would make in the future. Frazier’s marginal activity differs from Dillard’s because hers had an educational value towards playing with her microscope kit. His marginal activity was in the woods doing sorts of shenanigans. It shows when someone has some type of unstructured play, goals are eventually achieved. Essentially, free time allows the mind to wander and its value could benefit one in the long